Dead of Darkness Review
Dead of Darkness is a meaty retro survival horror experience that managed to spook me.
Dead of Darkness. Credit: Retrofiction Games
Dead of Darkness, made by solo developer Retrofiction Games, is a 2D homage to classic Resident Evil. Though it can sometimes be rough around the edges, this game is a standout survival horror experience that surprised me with its scale.
It’s 1985. Private investigator Miles Windham, an American living in England, ventures to Velvet Island, enticed by a mysterious letter promising answers about his daughter's mysterious death. He finds he’s unwelcome, and soon after his arrival, all hell breaks loose as ghouls appear and begin a killing spree. Miles will meet strange characters, learn dark secrets, encounter occult rituals, and struggle to maintain his sanity as he fights the emerging ancient evil of the island. He must survive if he wants to discover the truth about his daughter.
Dead of Darkness. Credit: Retrofiction Games
I enjoyed the game’s rich narrative, which was told through fully voiced character dialogue and documents found on the island. It’s a little bit Resident Evil and a little bit H.P. Lovecraft. Although I was a little confused at times, everything was clear to me by the time I completed the roughly 12-hour campaign.
Velvet Island itself is a silent character, rendered with a mysterious, foreboding atmosphere. Like the Resident Evil mansion, this game’s world is a maze with layers gated by colored keys and puzzles. The level design makes it rewarding to open up paths and gradually unlock the island’s secrets. Each new area you discover feels dangerous and exciting, and sometimes even backtracking can be fraught with terror, depending on how many events have transpired in the game since you last visited old haunts.
Dead of Darkness. Credit: Retrofiction Games
The gameplay and systems are nearly identical to this game’s inspiration, which I’ve already name-dropped several times, but translated to a 2D 16-bit aesthetic. If you’ve played Resident Evil, you’ll be well-prepared for what’s in store as Dead of Darkness sticks close to survival horror conventions. You must manage limited resources and inventory space while defending yourself against various deadly monsters as you search for keys and clues to solve puzzles that gate your progress. Weapon variety is more limited, but their mechanics are the same; you can’t move and shoot at the same time.
There are two health gauges to watch. The first is your physical health, measured in green to red, and the second is your mental health, depicted as white to black. Healing items are available for each, as well as separate items to manage status effects that include bleeding and poison. In normal difficulty, I nearly never had to use anything other than standard heals, and I question the need for the additional health mechanics; the extra items only take up more space, and I think if they were necessary often, the game would get frustrating as opposed to more fun.
Dead of Darkness. Credit: Retrofiction Games
My other frustration with the game was instant death. At least a couple of enemies will end your game if they touch you, and it got old for me quickly, especially in some of the game’s sections where you could only see a small area around you lit by a lantern. The game doesn’t have checkpoints, so death means returning to your last save, which could be several rooms away.
The game’s 16-bit art style is wonderful. It would feel right at home on a Super Nintendo or PlayStation 1. Despite its inherent reduced detail due to the low resolution, Dead of Darkness is still scary thanks to its creature design and gore, coupled with the game’s sound design and use of music. Several encounters made me jump or induced a satisfyingly frightening panic to survive the situation in a way that felt very cinematic. This is pixel art horror done right; it reminded me of my experience with Corpse Party on the PSP, one of my horror favorites. The UI here is a little bit ugly when it comes to the inventory and other ancillary screens, but that’s the least of things as it’s still easy to understand, so I can overlook it.
Dead of Darkness. Credit: Retrofiction Games
Dead of Darkness is a game that survival horror fans shouldn’t miss. It fills a gap left by modern games in the genre, and despite being a bit derivatively close to its inspiration, it’s still a thrilling, fun experience. Few retro-styled survivor horror games get it right, and this developer knows how to create a spooky atmosphere using his stylistic tools. Dead of Darkness had me completely hooked until I finished it.
Dead of Darkness is available now on Steam.
Overall Score: 8/10
Played on: Steam Deck
